I should be less cynical. I think it was more being driven and wanting the best for your kids. My parents were literally dirt poor, so they just pushed me and didn't want to be disappointed.

I live in a place I rent from the Chinese GF's parents of my white friend. When the parents visit they're always asking how things are with me on all levels. I take all of that in good faith.

My parents, her parents, and a lot of other people's parents didn't have the things I took for granted. My dad lived in a temple in college just so he had a place to sleep and eat. When I bitch I had to work at McDonalds to get a Corolla and a hockey stick - it makes me look like a tool in perspective

mimo - totally missed your question about the spare tire thing. I'd honestly just get one of those compresser and sealant kits. Amazon, autozone, whatever. You'll get more room to throw in some crap you never use like an umbrella and a jacket or whatever you want. If you had a spare tire, you'd be getting it replaced anyway, so I wouldn't waste that space with a spare.Edited by ramuman - 10/6/16 at 9:19am

Interesting thing is BMW SF drove me to work in an i3 which is what they are now using for their shuttles. I think they are having trouble moving them even though they are basically giving them away with crazy lease deals. We were tempted to lease one a few months ago but I'm just not sure the clamshell doors will work for us in getting kids in and out of our narrow garage. If you ignore that, plus the way it looks and the high list price, the i3 is objectively an interesting vehicle to me. The acceleration from 0-30 is awesome and it feels really well put together. Will be interesting to see what they do with the line in the future. I think they need to figure out a way to lop at least $10k off the purchase price and double the mileage before it will be competitive with the Model 3 but for urban dwellers with light usage requirements, I can see the appeal.